Tel Aviv University

Lawlessness and Maniacal Suicide Bombers must have their place in
Hacohen's enlightened society

While thousands of asylum seekers are pushed to
starvation and crime, Israel opens its gates every year to thousands
of foreign workers, mostly from Asia; entire branches of the
countrys economy  especially agriculture and construction  depend
on this cheap labor, since the Palestinian commuters were pushed out
of the labor market to perish behind walls and fences....
Modeled on the violence against Palestinians, the incitement and
eruption of violence against Africans is just another symptom of the
fascist atmosphere in Israel, and it does not end with Africans.

The
"race riots" in Tel Aviv last week  a mass demonstration that
turned into a pogrom against about 60,000 asylum seekers, an
overwhelming majority of them from Eritrea, the rest mostly from
Sudan (Darfur and South Sudan) and a few other African countries 
gives a revealing glimpse into Israeli realities under the current
fascist government.

The predominant speakers at the demonstration in the poor
southern part of Tel Aviv, where most of the asylum seekers and
migrant workers are concentrated, were two Knesset members: Michael
Ben-Ari (of the far-right
National Union), who urged the Jewish rabble to take law into
its own hands ("the time for words is over"), and Miri Regev (Likud),
who described the "Sudanese" (contrary to the facts, many ignorant
Israelis subsume all Africans under "Sudanese") as "cancer."

Obviously, fascism always deflects public discontent by turning
it against helpless minorities. But the alliance between the two
Knesset members is revealing: whereas Regev is a coalition member,
Ben-Ari is officially part of the opposition. Israel's fascist
coalition is in fact even wider than the 94 (out of 120) Knesset
members it now includes, as it can rely on the support of the
far-right opposition to carry out its policies. Netanyahu uses this
quite often. When regulations or tradition stipulate the appointment
of an opposition member to some official function, Netanyahu
appoints someone from the far right, marginalizing the small liberal
opposition even further.

Ben-Ari is a former (?) member of the Orthodox, fascist-racist
Kach movement, which is outlawed in Israel and considered a
terrorist organization in the United States. Miri Regev, on the
other hand, was the spokesperson of the Israeli army during the
Second Lebanon War (2006). Trained and experienced in lying and
inciting against the "enemy from without," she now turns her talents
against the "enemy from within." Just a few years ago, the far-right
former Col.
Effi Eitam defined Israeli Arab citizens as a "cancer," now
Regev is using  without any apology even in hindsight  the same
image (quite popular among neo-Nazis against Jews, by the way)
against asylum seekers.

The Palestinian Model

Indeed, the asylum seekers are neatly placed into the square
allotted to Palestinians and Arabs. "Cancer" is just one common
image. The "demographic threat" is evoked against the Africans too:
Netanyahu has warned that the 60,000 (about 0.8% of Israel's total
population) "might become 600,000 and destroy Israel as a Jewish and
democratic state." On the backdrop of this blatant incitement,
Netanyahu's condemnation of violence after the riots is nothing but
lip service.

Even the U.S. government "viewed negatively [Israeli] government
officials' use of the term 'infiltrators' to refer to asylum
seekers, as well as officials who directly associated asylum seekers
with the rise in crime, disease and terrorism. Interior Minister Eli
Yishai was specifically flagged as an instigator." The Hebrew term
mistanenim ("infiltrators") was coined to refer to the
Palestinian refugees who tried to return to their homes and fields
inside Israel, from which they had fled or been expelled during the
1948 war. Though predominantly unarmed, about 5,000 of them were
ruthlessly killed by Israeli soldiers during the 1950s. The routine
was repeated after the 1967 war; Israeli historian
Shlomo Sand has just revealed how as a young soldier he
witnessed the abuse of an elderly Palestinian "infiltrator" who was
unlucky enough to be arrested in daylight (those caught at night
were killed summarily): "The detainee was sitting tied to a chair
while my good friends were beating him all over his body,
occasionally putting out burning cigarettes on his arms. Later, a
vehicle left carrying the corpse of the old man. My friends told me
they were going to the Jordan River to get rid of it." Compared to
this organized state violence against "infiltrators," the incited
Israeli demonstrators of last week  whose life has indeed become
impossible due to the presence of thousands of mostly unemployed
immigrants in their already impoverished neighborhoods  treated the
African "infiltrators" rather kindly.

Indeed, even the "solution" used for the "problem" of asylum
seekers is similar to the one implemented on the Palestinians.
Showing some civil courage  a very rare trait in Israel  the chief
of police hit the nail on the head last week when he urged the
government to let asylum seekers work. Imagine: the Africans are
arrested upon crossing the border from Egypt, kept in detention for
weeks or months, and then dumped at the Tel Aviv Central Bus
Station. They are not given any work permit as long as their request
is "processed" by Israel  and regarding this "processing" we have
the
evidence of the American 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices: "of 4,603 new asylum applications, 3,692 were
rejected. Only one was approved."

What's the sense of keeping thousands of people who cannot be
deported to their failed home countries without a work permit,
pushing them to hunger, theft, and robbery? Government spokesmen are
quite open about that: "If we let them work, more will come." We see
again the "solution" traditionally suggested and implemented toward
the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza: do not treat them well;
dispossess them, deprive them of land, work opportunities, and human
rights; and they'll go away (or evaporate). And if  surprise
surprise  they turn to violence, that's even better: portray them
as terrorists and "Let the Army Win." After all, there's no problem
the Israeli army cannot solve.

The Economy Behind

But it's not just ideology that is at stake here. Behind the
scenes, economic factors play a huge role. While thousands of asylum
seekers are pushed to starvation and crime, Israel opens its gates
every year to thousands of foreign workers, mostly from Asia; entire
branches of the country's economy  especially agriculture and
construction  depend on this cheap labor, since the Palestinian
commuters were pushed out of the labor market to perish behind walls
and fences.

The solution seems trivial: instead of importing new workers from
the Philippines or China, Israel can give work permits to the asylum
seekers already here. Why is this not done? We've already seen the
official excuse. But the deeper reason is concealed. Take, for
example, Miri Regev. Just a few days before railing against "the
Sudanese cancer" in Tel Aviv, the very same lady tried to promote an
amendment to the law that would reduce government's regulation of
foreign workers and give "manpower contractors" a free hand to
import whomever they decide. How come? Well, unlike asylum seekers,
who are often robbed and blackmailed by Egyptian smugglers but enter
Israel free of charge, every legal migrant worker pays his Israeli
"manpower contractor" thousands of dollars just for entering Israel.
Asylum seekers come for free, but migrant workers are big money.
Regev is a politician, and politicians are always aware of big
money.

Remember Eli Yishai, the interior minister "specifically flagged
as an instigator" against asylum seekers? During his time as
interior minister, work permits for migrant workers have soared. His
colleague in the ultra-orthodox Shas Party, former minister
Shlomo Benizri, is now in prison, convicted of accepting bribe
from a good friend  a "manpower contractor"  in exchange for
inside information regarding foreign workers scheduled to arrive in
Israel.

Regev could have helped both the poor asylum seekers and the poor
Israelis who suffer from them  by urging to let the Africans work.
But that would make her unpopular among the "manpower contractors"
who import Asian migrant workers. Instead, she incites poor Israelis
against poorer Africans and demands benefits for the rich
contractors who exploit poor Asians. Social justice, Israeli-style.

Not Just Africans

Modeled on the violence against Palestinians, the incitement and
eruption of violence against Africans is just another symptom of the
fascist atmosphere in Israel, and it does not end with Africans.
Regev specifically aimed her attack also at "the leftists who
appealed to courts" (asking not to deport asylum seekers to South
Sudan). "Shame on them, they stopped the deportation," she added,
pointing a finger both at the "leftists" and at Israel's judiciary,
despised and hated by the government. The rabble got the message:
immediately afterward, Ha'aretz reporter
Ilan Lior was attacked when demonstrators claimed to have
identified him as "a leftist who throws stones at Israeli soldiers
at a checkpoint." His denials did not help. He was saved thanks to
police who pushed him into their car, warning him he might get
murdered. The Israeli journalist was almost lynched, then, not for
expressing any support for asylum seekers in a heated demonstration
against them, but because he was seen as a political opponent in the
"only democracy in the Middle East."

P.S. Regev has apologized for calling the
Sudanese "cancer." However, she directed her apology to cancer
patients and Holocaust survivors, not to the Sudanese.

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